John M. Andrews: Patience and understanding on Route 2

I feel compelled to share with you an incident which happened on a recent Saturday evening in front of the entrance to the Olive Garden restaurant on Route 2 in Warwick.

Edward C. Achorn Ed_Achorn

I feel compelled to share with you an incident which happened on a recent Saturday evening in front of the entrance to the Olive Garden restaurant on Route 2 in Warwick.

We had just finished dinner, and were attempting to assist an 89-year-old family member into our SUV vehicle. No matter how hard she tried, she could not pull herself in, even with our assistance. At this point, there were six cars stopped behind us, and four cars were stopped coming towards us, observing our "hoisting operation"!

A young man in an adjacent car facing in the opposite direction got out to try to help us."Strength in numbers" was not working here! Then a young man in the car behind us magically produced a small footstool, which saved the day. Our very independent octogenarian stepped on the footstool and got into the SUV successfully. Cheers and the clapping of hands could be heard all around!

My reason for writing this letter is to show those non-believers that there are still good people out there, the Boston Marathon, Newtown and Columbine massacres notwithstanding. Not once did they blow their horns, or get out of their cars to complain to us for holding up traffic. Rather, they were sympathetic and empathetic to our situation.